


The Lover of Day

by orphan_account



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Light Angst, Romance, give me luck, i dont do romance, im trying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:00:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22360726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alina has been one of Helion, High Lord of the Day Court's, lover for as long she had been at his court as one of his many hired scholars and advisers.She never thought he truly cared for her, that she was just another one of his many, many lovers but she soon finds out how utterly wrong she had been.
Relationships: Helion (ACoTaR)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how long the story will be because I can't really commit to a story or drop it completely. It may be twenty thousand words, or only ten. I just hope that no matter what, you will all enjoy it.

Alina threw her head back against the plush cream-colored and feather-filled pillow, a moan of pleasure escaping her slightly parted lips. Her every sense was focused on his every touch. His warm and gentle hand on her thin waist, his warm, tickling breath on her neck, his teeth nipping at her delicately pointed ear, every full and powerful thrust of his hips.

It was a complete reflex as she reached out and wrapped both of her arms around his broad back, the strong and corded muscles shifting under her touch. She pulled him closer to her, needing to feel his toned abs and broad chest against her body; needing to smell the scent of myrrh that was his favorite oil, and the sweetness that was his skin and the aftermath of him lounging in flower-filled rooms all day.

“I love you, Lina,” he moaned, breathless between his desperate and loving kisses on her neck. 

She heard the words, comprehended them, then discarded them like they were nothing. He was Helion, the High Lord of the Day Court. He had many, many beautiful lovers that were both male and female that would crawl into his bed whenever he pleased and she was only one of them. She was pretty sure he told everyone he slept with that he loved them.

She reached her finish and he reached his not long after. He stayed there on top of her, his breath heavy and rasping, his skin clammy with sweat. A smile spread slowly on his lips and he leaned down to plant a long, gentle kiss on Alina’s lips before he sighed and flopped back on the bed beside her. 

She yearned for more, wanted to pull him back and keep kissing him and holding him, but she didn’t. She only braced her arm underneath herself and started to sit up, pulling the thin white linen sheet close around her.

A hand reached and grabbed onto her arm and her every sense honed in on the easy strength of it. She looked over her shoulder, her warm brown hair running down her bare back, tickling her skin. 

Helion was gazing up at her, a dreamy smile on his lips, his eyes fogged over by exhaustion. “Stay, Lina. Please, just this once,” She knew he was going to say it since he said it every time they slept together. Still, every time she doubted he would.

If he wasn’t the High Lord, she still wouldn’t have refused him. There was such kindness in his voice and eyes that she couldn’t say no. She laid back down and he wrapped a tentative arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. She breathed him in, sighing softly, and nuzzled her head into his chest. 

A part of her was saying that she should just get up and leave, make the short trek back to the rooms that Helion had so graciously appointed her, and sleep there in her own bed. But here, this is where she felt she belonged: beside her dear friend. She knew that he didn’t feel the same, but that didn’t bother her as much as it should have.   
“There’s a large meeting with all the High Lord’s in two days. Since I have a close relationship with Thesan, who is being the host for us all, I have decided to go a day early. And… getting to the fun part,” he said, running a hand down the back of her head down along her spine, his touch feather-light. “I want you to come with me.”

She stilled and looked up at him through her eyelashes, too tired, even with this new shocking information, to move her head. “What?” she asked, her voice smaller than she’d expected it to be.

“You heard me,” he said, the smile evident in his voice, as he stroked her back again, the motion lulling her to sleep. “As my adviser. My lightsinger,”

She sighed at the name, her eyes drooping closed. Before that Night Court shadowsinger, Azriel, made his appearance, she didn’t have any sort of special name. All she was was Alina, nothing more, nothing less. Now she was the lightsinger, the female who always glowed with the force of the sun and could harness it like a blade.   
In all truth, she was nothing like the shadowsinger, but people liked to make connections where there was none.

“You don’t have to do anything hard, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He said, and she swore he heard a shred of desperation in his voice. But maybe it was just the absolute exhaustion dragging her down into sleep. “If you want, all you have to do is sit in your room. Or you could come in as my right-hand and tell me how I’m doing everything wrong.”

She was silent, but she knew that he could tell she wasn’t asleep. He just started humming softly, his chest vibrating with the sound. She was almost asleep, contented in the warmth of his hold and the peace his smell gave her, when he said, “I would love for you to come, so you’ll think about it?”

She gave her best attempt at a nod and Helion sighed, his muscles loosening. For a moment she wondered how long he’d been tense, and hated herself for not noticing.

As she fell asleep, he said quietly, “I do love you, my Alina.” She made herself un-hear it, convinced that it was just a slip of the tongue or something else that could be quickly explained away.


	2. Chapter 2

_I love you, Lina._

His words kept echoing in her mind as Alina wandered down the sun-warmed hall of Helion’s favorite palace. He always said it while they made love, but never once at any other time. She knew she should be grateful for even being so close to a High Lord, for being one of their lovers, but it still stung whenever his eyes roved carefully over another female or male’s body, his eyes alight with such an intense desire that it burned.

Those nights when Helion left parties with someone on his arm, low and sensual whispers floating between the two of them, she would go and lock herself up in her lavish rooms, drinking and drinking until she was so drunk she forgot why she had started drinking in the first place.

Then in the morning, she would lay in bed until the middle of the afternoon before she would force herself to crawl out of her bed and nurse her raging headache by downing multiple cups of bitter, black coffee. And as if he was on cue, an hour later Helion would come into her room and sit down by her with a short stack of books. 

He would talk in a low voice as to not give her more of a headache, explaining to her why he had found the books interesting and giving her a reason as to why she should read them. Sometimes it would be about a certain breed of faerie; sometimes it was about a High Fae with power similar to hers. 

No matter what it was, she would always catch guilt and something deeper in his eyes. It would be there one second and gone the next as if it had never been. She always blamed it on her horrible hangover, and never thought about it again for fear of what would come of it.

_If you want, all you have to do is sit in your room._ Sure, she could do that. After all, she couldn’t say no to a High Lord, no matter how close she was to him. 

A peal of deep roaring laughter reached her ears as she furthered down the path, light from the towering windows of her left casting shadows across the floor. She didn’t try to quiet her steps as she turned around the corner and saw her High Lord in a small group of scholars.

All of them wore the classic Day Court attire: bolts of vibrant material secured and draped over their bodies. An attire that Alina never wore for no other than the fact that she preferred her long flowing dresses.

She paused in the shadow of a smooth white stone pillar, knowing that Helion had seen her, or even scented her, as soon as she’d rounded the corner. Maybe he’d even known of her approach before she even got to the corner. At this point, she wasn’t aware of what he could, or couldn’t, do.

In a moment, he had the many scholars dismissed easily in a way that didn’t seem like a dismissal, and turned his attention to her. 

The joy from his recent conversation was still sparking in his eyes, a cheerful smile on his lips. He started toward her, his every step light on the stone of the floor beneath him. 

“Did you think my offer over?” he asked as he approached, lowering his voice so that the passing courtier didn’t overhear his voice. The male gave Alina a long look, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk when he saw Helion take her hand in his.

His touch was gentle and soft despite the rough callouses littering his palm. His dark eyes were intent, that spark of joy replaced with hesitance.

“Yes,” she said and he nodded slowly, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand. “I’ll go,” she said, and that joy returned to his eyes, that joy-filled smile coming back to his lips.

“But I don’t want to go into the actual meeting with the other High Lords. That’ll be too much for me, I think,”

“I don’t think anyone sane would willingly walk into a room full of all seven High Lords and their commanders.” He said, lifting her hand to his lips to plant a light kiss on it.

Another courtier breezed past, her intricate dress rustling with every step, her eyes unashamedly darting between Alina and the High Lord.

“I feel like a spectacle,” she whispered, taking her hand back. She tried to stop the warmth spreading on her cheeks, but it was a fruitless effort. That was one thing she could never get used to, being at court like this. She sometimes missed her precious and quaint family home, the rolling hills of green and gold spreading behind them.

“You’re beautiful, why shouldn’t you be?” he asked, though he positioned himself in a way to block her from the passersby. His scent wrapped around her and she left her eyes drift closed. He leaned in and brushed his lips against her cheek in a kiss and whispered against her skin, “I can order them not to look at you, Alina. If that’s something you want.”

“No, that’s all right,” she said, and he pulled away as she opened her eyes, though he didn’t go far. 

For one, that would be impolite, to not allow people to glance in her direction. Secondly, it would be too real for him to do something like that. It would feel like he was declaring to the whole Court that she was one of his lovers, even though they all already knew. 

“If you ever change your mind, just give me a shout. It would be the least I could do,” he said, running a hand up her arm to rest on her shoulder. Everywhere he touched, goosebumps raised.

“The least you could do is tell me when we’re leaving,” she said, smiling triumphantly at his slightly shocked expression.

“In two or three hours, or earlier. As soon as you’re ready and I’m done readying the council for my absence, we can go.” He said and brought his hand up to cup her chin. For a moment he looked into her sharp green eyes, sending her whole body still. Her heart started beating quicker and she hated that he could hear it. Hated that he had this power over her by just looking into her eyes.

He leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss on her lips, slow and gentle. Slowly, hesitantly he pulled his hand away from her face and took a step backward.

“I’ll see you in a moment,” he said and turned to walk away. She watched him leave for what felt like too-long and leaned up against the warm stone walls behind her. 

Every time she spoke to him, every time he touched her, she was left feeling like this. Like she was on a high that she would never be able to come down from. But she knew she would come down from it. She knew that sooner or later he would lay with someone else without remorse or guilt, and she would be left aside once again.

He was a High Lord, and she was nothing but one of his many, many lovers.


End file.
